Pyromania
by starla21
Summary: There  has been a series of fires around Gardenia that seem to come out of nowhere. The fire department think that one crazy pyromaniac is behind it all. What, or who, does Bloom find when she gets caught in the latest fire?


**Author's Note: This actually isn't the first story i wrote, but it's the first I've posted on here myself. i would like to see how it does. **

**Also, I'm not a fan of sparxshipping, so the very little hint of it you see here is the most you're ever going to see from me about them. Inspiration just hit me one morning and i went with it. **

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything about the winx club, but the ideas on the second half of the story are my own. Emberfire411 wrote the first half of the story awhile back and decided to give the story to me to finish because i had an idea about how to finish it. Her ideas are her own, not mine. Also, she beta'd for me, so thanks for that ember! You're awesome! She really is a great writer, and i would suggest reading her stories as well, even though we don't always agree on couples. She's a huge sparxshipping fan. And I'm obviously not.**

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><p>"Dad? Dad? Are you here?" I walked into the open garage of the Gardenia Fire Station, the familiar hum of the air-conditioning my only reply. Continuing through the garage and into the equipment room, past the walls of fire suits, axes, and extra fire hoses, I opened the door that led to the kitchen. Once I got in there, I caught the scent of Chinese takeout from P.F. Chang's – seeming to be seeping into the walls of the '90s-style-but-cozy kitchen of the station. "Dad?" I called again.<p>

A head shot up from behind the island of the kitchen; a man with a mess of black hair and forest green eyes, who looked at me, a grin lighting up his face. "Bloom!"

Grinning back, I gave him a hug. "Hey, Jack. Good to see you."

"You too, sweetie. Sweet and sour chicken?" He gestured to the take-out boxes on the linoleum table. Jack Piccoli is not only one of Dad's closest friends around here, he's also Andy's father. When Andy and I were little, we thought he was so cool because he'd let us ride in the trucks with him.

"I'm good, thanks. Hey, is Dad here? He asked me to meet him."

"Oh yeah, he's up in the loft computer room. I don't know why, but he has some footage to show you of a fire that happened last night. It was a four-alarm."

"Anyone injured?"

"Two guys were killed. One was a solider from overseas. Left two kids and a wife."

I shook my head. "It's an unfair world."

"Tell me about it. Later, honey."

"Bye," I said, heading up to the loft. Before I did though, I reconsidered Jack's offer of food and grabbed some chopsticks and a box of white rice, dunking some soy-sauce on it. Heading up to the loft, I waved at any of the guys I knew, all of them smiling and tipping their hats (those who were wearing them, anyways) back at me.

"Dad?" I opened the door to the loft.

Dad turned from the computer screen and grinned at me. "Hey there, Bloom. I was wondering if you'd get here."

"Mom gave me the message the minute I got home," I said, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

"Good. How's school?"

"It's good. A and B grades, Flora's doing new plant experiments, all that good stuff."

"How about those witches? Your mom said there was some trouble there."

I shrugged. "Baltor's been quiet lately." It was true. There'd been almost no activity from Cloud Tower the last week. While the people of Magix had been relieved, I merely wondered what Baltor was planning.

"Isn't that a good thing?" he asked, swiping my chopsticks and taking some rice.

"I guess… I just don't trust that guy. But anyway, what's up? Jack said you wanted me to look at some footage of a fire?"

"That's right," Dad said, reaching for the computer mouse. "This fire last night was brutal. But we just got the footage from the police and I thought it might be up your alley."

"What do you mean?"

"Take a look." He pulled up a grainy camera image on the screen and pressed PLAY.

There was definitely a person standing near a building. He or she stuck their hand out towards it, and suddenly fire jumped from their hand. The building caught on fire, and the man (I could see now that it was a man) retreated into the night.

I watched with wide eyes. The screen flickered to a different shot, and the same person was there, standing two buildings away, watching the blaze. He raised his hand again and more flames shot out. Then the figure turned towards the camera and launched a blast. There was a burst of red, and the shot went down.

Dad stopped playing the video. "The police claimed the guy had a flamethrower, but I thought…"

"Magic."

"Right. That's the third fire this week. So far, four people have lost their lives. I don't know who this guy might be, but if he is from the magical dimension, he's a threat we can't stop. Any ideas on who that is?"

I had an idea, but lied through my teeth. "That looks like a temporary fire spell. People in Magix use it on camping trips, to light fireplaces, and even in music videos for effects. It could be anyone." In truth, no such spell exists. "Is there anything else?"

"Not that we've found."

"So you want me to step in, see what I can find?" I asked, taking a bite of rice.

"Just for a little bit. I don't want you getting in trouble with this."

"Aww, come on Dad," I grinned. "There's some weirdo magic guy setting fire to buildings and you want your daughter – who finds trouble on a regular basis – to try and figure it out. What could possible go wrong?"

* * *

><p>"Are you sure it's a good idea for you to be out here with us, Bloom?" Jack asked me as I put my feet up on the dashboard of the fire truck.<p>

I had spent the afternoon down at the library, checking out some stuff on the locations of the three fires. Two of the places were old apartment buildings, and the one from last night had started in a shop that had recently been renovated – formerly a fortune-teller's.

Since the fire last night was so brutal, half of the squad was out tonight trying to stop the pyromaniac from striking again. Dad had gone with the fire marshal, and since he couldn't take me with him, he asked me to tag along with Jack. However, after my research, I had a bad feeling that if my hunch was correct, there wouldn't be much that either Jack or my dad could do.

"You should be home," Jack continued. "You only get one week for spring break; you shouldn't be spending it like this. And no offense, but if something happens, you're not going to be much help wearing that."

I glanced down at my dark jeans, black-and-white-striped shirt, denim vest, and black Converse. "Don't worry Jack; I'm better off than you think."

"Really? With no equipment or anything?" He looked at me skeptically.

"You might say the equipment is in the palm of my hand." He was focusing on the road as I said this, so he didn't notice the little fire all I had produced in my palm. I quickly doused the flame when Jack turned back to me.

"I don't know, honey. Maybe I should just take you home. Or better yet – I know Andy has tickets for a Mayday Parade concert down at the stadium. I can call and see if he has an extra one so you can go with."

"That sounds good, but I have a feeling you're going to need me out here."

Jack looked surprised that I was turning down concert tickets, but after a moment he chuckled. "Oh, that's right. You've got another boyfriend now."

"What?" I asked, shocked. "No! It's… it's not that. I love Andy, you know I do."

He grinned. "Relax, I'm just giving you a hard time. From what your parents told me, he seems like a good guy. What's his name? Steven?"

"Sky. And I wouldn't be calling him my boyfriend anymore."

"Oh? Why's that?"

Static came over the radio, effectively cutting me off. "Jack? You there?"

Jack grabbed the radio communicator and put it to his mouth. "Yeah, Mike. What's up?"

"We got a report of some activity down at Jerry's Antique Shop. You're stationed near there, right? Can you check it out?"

"Sure," he replied, before I took the communicator from him so he could drive. "What did the reports say, Dad?"

"Just some weird activity. Sparks in the shop."

I banged my head against the back of the headrest. "Damn it."

"Bloom," he said in a tone that told me to watch my language.

"Sorry."

"Is there something you know that I don't, Bloom?"

"Well, kind of." I said as Jack stopped at a red light. "You know how I said things with Baltor had been quiet lately?"

"Yeah…"

I tapped Jack's shoulder and pointed down the road and across two blocks, where Jerry's was. Even in the dark, there was a distinct shape of rising smoke. Jack flipped on the engine sirens and gunned the intersection. "I think I figured out why."

With the sirens on, we reached the building in fifteen seconds flat. The old three-story building was burning brightly, mostly on the first floor. "Stay here, Bloom," Jack insisted, throwing the door open.

"But I–"

"Don't," he cut me off, looking stern. "Stay here, Bloom, and stay out of trouble. Got it?"

I sighed and flopped back against the seat. "Fine."

"Good girl. Watch for the others." With that, he shut the door and headed to get a hose.

The minute he was out of sight, I threw open my door and hopped out of the truck, darting across to the alley next to the building. The fire hadn't reached the wall I was next to, but I could already feel the heat radiating from it. After glancing back to make sure Jack couldn't see me, I threw up my hands and focused my powers. "Winx Enchantix!"

Once that was done, I carefully blasted a hole in the wall and stepped inside. Most of the antique stuff was burning brightly, from a long wooden table in the center of the room to the grandfather clock that was near me. I immediately shot my hand up and extinguished the fire on that. I felt a little sad watching the place burn; my mom loved antiques, and after being dragged to countless stores in my childhood, I had a kind of respect for things like that. However, I knew the time for reminiscing was later.

I headed to the back of the store, putting out what fires I could until I reached an old and thick brown book sitting on a shelf. I pulled it out and began leafing through it. The writing looked long and curvy, like French, but I recognized it as an ancient language that Sparx and Solaria used when they were controlled under the same ruler in the twelfth century (and Palladium said I never paid attention in history class). Ancient legends, old laws, and I finally reached the spells. "So I was right." I couldn't help but grin when I looked down at the page.

"So I see you were," a deep velvet voice spoke from behind me.

I heard a roar of fire, and before I could turn, I was hit in the back of the head with something powerful. I fell to the ground, just as the bookcase near me caught fire. Reaching out my hand, I tried to put out the flames, but whatever it was hit me again, my energy going as a throbbing pain started in the back of my head. Finally, the darkness took me.

* * *

><p>I woke to the sound of sirens, people yelling, and one hell of a headache. There were tight magical binds on my wrists and ankles, which held me to a wall. I could smell smoke, but there wasn't any fire here… wherever here was. It looked like a dark abandoned room, the only light coming from the windows, where the fire had spread across the street.<p>

"Well, it's about time you woke up."

"Baltor." I said simply, turning my head from the windows. It had been a long time in coming, but I had finally willed myself into not being scared of that evil but charming grin or his golden eyes, which could look amused one moment and fierce the next with hardly a second's transition.

"You don't even seem surprised," Baltor remarked, obviously loving the fact that I was trapped like a rat.

"You know me. How far did you spread this fire?"

"One street over. It won't go any further, I promise; I just needed to keep them busy."

For obvious reasons, Baltor's 'promise' didn't make me feel any better. I tried breaking the bonds, but whatever magic was on them was too strong. "So." I gave up on the magic cords and went back to questioning Baltor. "I assume you took that spell from the old book."

He merely grinned at me. "You've been busy, haven't you?"

"Actually yes. I know that all the places you set fire to – the apartments, the former fortune teller, and now this place – all contained a piece of an ancient spell from Pyros that has the power to erase light from planets. The two families must have unknowingly had the spell, and the fortune teller had it hidden in a wall or something. You just set the fires as a distraction so the fire department would be too occupied to notice you."

The grin didn't disappear as he clapped mockingly, each one feeling like a blow. "You were busy. All of that in just one day, huh? I guess I shouldn't be surprised. There is a certain quality about you Bloom."

I couldn't tell if the compliment was genuine or mocking. "Well the qualities you possess aren't exactly respected in my opinion. You're killing people for this, completely innocent people without powers. That's low, Baltor, even for you."

"You didn't read _much_ about that spell, did you? In order to keep the fire burning and to test out the spell, I had to inject dark magic into it. And that made it a bit… interesting to control."

"So then why are you letting it burn if you, in all your greatness, can't control it?" Sarcasm dripped from my voice. "How do you even know you can control the full spell?"

"Well, once I have the spell activated, I'm sure there won't be a problem. But if it doesn't work, I have a feeling it won't end well for you." Baltor reached out and pushed a section of hair off my face. "A pity, really, wasting talent like yours. The humans are useless, but you – one of the last two pieces of the Dragon Fire, destroyed in an actual fire. A bit ironic."

I jerked my head to avoid his fingers brushing my skin. "You bastard."

"I've been called worse." He grinned, turning from me and going back to the book, which lay open on the ground next to a diagram made of dully glowing flames.

I quickly did some math in my head – the last fire had been a four-alarm, and that had used three of the four pieces of the spell. What came after a four alarm? It only went up to four, didn't it? What could come after that? Somehow, trying to think about it didn't make me feel better. "Baltor, you can't!" I yelled over an oncoming siren. "You'll light the whole city on fire; you can't handle the power!"

He turned back to me and grinned. "You doubt me that much?"

"I doubt the darkness in the spell is controllable. You of all people should know that when things can't be contained, they're destroyed."

He threw a black powder (dark magic, I'm sure) into the fire. "Bloom, I'm impressed that you care so much about this useless little city, but–"

Suddenly, the fire sprang to life, faster than anything I'd ever seen. Baltor was thrown back into the wall near me, and practically crumpled to the ground. I gasped as it seemed like the whole room lit up, and a wave of heat hit me. Outside, I heard a powerful roar and gasps of alarm; I could only assume that my worst fear – the fire engulfing any building nearby – had come true.

"No, no, no!" Baltor stood up and outstretched his hand towards the flame, releasing a blue light from his palm. It stuck the fire, creating a bright white explosion. I closed my eyes against the blinding light, the screaming sound of the fire like nails on a chalkboard. When I finally opened my eyes again, Baltor was lying on the ground again.

"Look what you've done!" I yelled as smoke started forming. "This whole place is going to burn, and it'll take both of us with it!"

"You think I haven't realized that?" he managed to shoot back. "I knew the spell was a little hard to control, but…"

I struggled against the cuffs again, trying to draw in some air. "Let me out of these things, and maybe I can help contain it."

"Bloom…"

"Do it, Baltor!"

As annoyed as he looked, I think he somehow respected me. He snapped his fingers, and the bindings on my legs faded. Then he walked over and placed his hands on the bands of light around my wrists, jerking his fingers to the left, and the cuffs disappeared.

I fell right into Baltor's arms, gripping the lapels of his jacket to keep myself steady while he pressed me against him, making sure he didn't hurt my wings. "Now then," he replied, looking down at me with a mixture of interest and annoyance, "How do you plan to stop this?"

I opened my mouth, but was hit by a powerful coughing fit. Smoke stung my eyes, making them water, and the heat of the room made it feel like my flesh was peeling off from my face. _Fire's eating all oxygen… can't breathe… need fresh air…_

Without thinking twice, I darted to the nearest window (which was thankfully very close) and formed a small fireball in my palms, aiming it at the glass. I wasn't worried about exposing magic; with all the flames coming from inside the shop, it was unlikely anyone would notice my little fireball. Cold night air rushed in as the glass shattered, cooling my burning face and filling my lungs. I inhaled deeply, for a moment forgetting the task at hand.

"Are you going to _do_ something about this fire, or are you just going to stand there moon-bathing, Bloom?" My eyes jerked open to see Baltor, still standing by the wall I had previously been chained to, seemingly unaffected by the lack of oxygen. The flames burned bright behind him, illuminating his silhouette and making for an awfully menacing image. I bit back a shudder.

"Don't you need oxygen?" I shouted over the roar of the fire.

As if finally reacting to the surplus of oxygen now in the surrounding air, the fire exploded with a vigorous new energy. My eyes widened, and I barely had time to shout a warning to Baltor as we both dived out of the way of the blast.

"You're telling me you don't have _any_ idea how to put out this fire you mindlessly created? Isn't that the first rule of doing a spell – you have to know how to counter it before casting it in the first place?"

"Well, I didn't count on the fire being too big to control," Baltor bit back. His golden eyes flickered with the reflection of the flames, but that was the only thing there. He never showed any kind of emotion, and his eyes were always an opaque mask, impenetrable to anyone. I briefly wondered if it took a great amount of self-control, or maybe many years of practice, to keep such a blank face; I was sure my own eyes reflected the fear and terror I felt in our current situation.

"Yeah, of course, because you always think of everything, right? Because nothing ever goes wrong for you? Well, you thought wrong!" The words came out a little more acerbically than I had intended, but there was no denying that if he had been just a little more careful, we wouldn't be in this position now.

The fire pushed forward, eating up more of the space between it and us. Quickly, I created a Dragon Fire force field, protecting me from the flames, so that I could get a closer look. The closer I got, the more I could feel the unique heaviness of dark magic.

The fairy dust pendant at my neck suddenly felt heavier. Of course! If the fire was created by dark magic, maybe I could use my fairy dust – combined with a powerful spell – to put it out. (From the looks of things, just fairy dust alone wouldn't be enough at this point.)

Lowering the shield just enough, I shot waves of Dragon Fire energy mixed with fairy dust towards the increasing flames, which reacted violently. My courage strengthened, I tried again, this time with a more powerful spell. The force from the reaction threw me across the room, and everything went dark momentarily as I hit the opposing wall, knocking my head against the windowsill.

When I came to again, Baltor was standing over me, both of us pressed right up against the wall, the flames almost licking at our feet. At this close proximity to the fire, the heat was unbearable, and the hot air would've been un-breathable even if it hadn't been consumed in smoke, despite my best efforts with the window. I sucked in a choking breath, coughing and sputtering.

Despite my best efforts, we were running out of time. The only thing I could think of that might work now was a Dragon Fire convergence – with Baltor. My archenemy.

I wasn't sure it would even work – these were hardly the standard conditions needed for convergence – but as the flames grew in size, gaining ground with every terrifying second, I knew I had to at least _try_ to try it. At this point, it was either try it, or die in the fire. Without thinking twice, I reached up and grabbed his hands, focusing all of my remaining energy onto this one final attack.

"Bloom, what are you doing?" Baltor shouted, his voice barely audible over the growl of the flames despite our proximity.

"Just trust me!" I yelled back, watching as our connected hands started to glow bright red. The glow increased in volume and intensity, and I released a breath I hadn't even realized I'd been holding (of course that could've easily been explained by the smoky room) as the flames started retreating. After what seemed like forever, the heat and light of the fire disappeared, replaced by thick dark smoke so heavy and suffocating it felt like an impenetrable solid.

I wobbled unevenly on wings that suddenly felt too weak to support my weight anymore, my head feeling dizzy and my concentration rapidly deteriorating, both from the severe lack of fresh air and the sudden exhaust of the rest of my magical energy. I fought it as best I could, remembering the reason we were in this mess – the book! I had to save the book!

My eyes were Sahara Desert-dry, and keeping them open felt like a Herculean task, but I fought the impending darkness, needing to know that all our efforts hadn't been in vain. But eventually, it all proved too much, and I collapsed against the wall, developing an ever-shrinking tunnel vision, until everything went black as I succumbed to the lure of unconsciousness.

* * *

><p>When I finally came to, it was the noise that I noticed first; the sounds of what must've been at least a dozen people – medics, firefighters, and onlookers alike – crowding around the small stretch of space in the immediate vicinity of the building. I felt cool metal beneath me, and shifted my gaze to see that I was lying in the back of a fire truck, surrounded by medical equipment. Several familiar faces, including Mike and Jack, were clustered near the truck, discussing something.<p>

As soon as my eyes fell on them, I shot up, a million questions suddenly entering my mind. Almost instantly, it became apparent that that was a huge mistake, as the world started spinning like the Mad Hatter's Teacups at Disneyland.

This kind of spinning, however, was not the fun kind, and I closed my eyes, slowly lying back down to try to regain some sense of equilibrium. It was then that I noticed the oxygen mask on my face, and the tank nearby.

"Careful there, darling," I heard Jack say. My head still felt like there were a million little people inside it stomping on my brain like they were trying to crush grapes, so I kept my eyes closed. "No sudden movements. You're still too fragile." A part of me instinctively wanted to protest at being called 'fragile', but considering my current condition, I knew it was kind of pointless.

"You were suffering from smoke inhalation from the fire. You were out for the better part of an hour," Mike added. "Considering everything, you're lucky it wasn't worse."

I nodded gratefully, the dizziness starting to clear. As I pushed the mask up onto my head, a thought occurred to me. "How did I get here?"

"Some older guy with weird-looking clothes carried you out just as we were about to go in after you. Sort of looked like he was wearing a costume. He said he was in the fire with you."

_Baltor_. "Did he say anything else?"

"He said something about how it would be too easy if he didn't save you. Mentioned something about… Tides?" Mike scratched the back of his head, looking puzzled. "Is that some place in the magical dimension?" I nodded, too busy processing the new information to do anything else, really. "Do you know this guy from somewhere?"

"You could say…"

Although now I was starting to wonder if I had ever really known him at all.

I'd wanted to leave right away, but the second one of the medics saw me getting up, they were instantly on me, demanding to run tests to make sure I hadn't sustained any more permanent damage. It felt pointless – since if there _was_ any lasting damage, I could just heal myself (but of course, they didn't know that) – and the entire process took _forever_, but finally I was cleared to go.

The night was dark and cool, but after the heat of the fire, it felt remarkably refreshing. Squinting, I spotted a dark figure walking a little ahead of me, across the street. It was too dark to make out distinct features, but then the wind blew up the trail of the figure's long dark coat, and I knew.

_It's answer time,_ I thought, crossing the street in a way that our paths would have to intersect.

"What do you want?" he spat as I stopped in front of him, his gold eyes glowing in the darkness.

"Why did you do it?"

He froze. "For the same reasons I did on Tides," he hissed, and then before I could blink, he was gone.

And I stood there, on that street corner, in the dark and in the cold, trying to figure out what had just happened, and why it felt like something enormous had just shifted.


End file.
